


A Circuit Filled Sky

by ShadowstarKanada



Category: ReBoot (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Friendship/Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-02
Updated: 2020-02-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:36:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,256
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22521868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowstarKanada/pseuds/ShadowstarKanada
Summary: A little moment between Bob and Dot, set somewhere before season one.
Relationships: Bob/Dot Matrix (ReBoot)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	A Circuit Filled Sky

Bob unpacked the food he'd brought along and filled two glasses with some Apple cider and offered one to Dot while she lay back on the blanket, watching electrons spinning around the circuit tracks brightly in the dark sky. She accepted it and lifted her head to take a sip.

"It's been a long time since I've been out here during a night-cycle," she said with a soft smile and a glance at the blue sprite beside her. "It's really lovely, you know. I could say you planned this evening to end on a perfect note..."

Bob laughed. "Learn from the best, that's what I always say."

Dot nodded sagely for a moment before giggling, something the young female sprite didn't do all that often. Bob's grin softened: he loved it when she let down her guard. "Thanks for making me take some time off. You know, I used to come here pretty often with my friends."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. The Twin City didn't have anything like this..."

Bob considered that for a nano. "No perfect date spots?"

She turned her head, startled, mouth in a little 'o' for a moment before she shook her head, looking back at the night skies. "Well, I don't know about _date spots_ , but... the Twin City was all about research, and the architecture showed it. The only places you could get views like this were at the top of one of the tallest university buildings. It was so tall, it felt like you could _touch_ the sky." Her hand reached out and she pointed at one of the specks of light that was reflecting in her eyes. "Right over there. Do you know, the electrons are warm...?" She paused in her memory and her hand fell. She glanced sideways at him, noticing suddenly that he was looking at _her_ instead of the sparks. "This isn't a date, is it?"

He replied with a shrug, and took a sip of his cider. "Would it be so bad if it were?"

She frowned. "I don't know..." She sat up straight and turned her head to look over at what was now Lost Angles. The outlines of the bridge were murky in the darkness, the flickering of the lights in the sky the true view of it. "Phong says I should keep moving forward, and when I'm in the business sphere I feel like I'm doing that, but... personally... sometimes I feel like I'm still stuck at that moment when the city exploded. We lost so many people. Isn't it... disrespectful to move on?"

She sighed and he put a tentative hand on her back. "I think... you should move on when you're ready. Some cycle, you'll wake up and you'll be ready to think about the people you cared about, and maybe it won't hurt so much."

She let out a huff. "I can't imagine that," she said with a shake of her head. Bob let his hand fall to the ground and she sighed. "Sorry, Bob."

He shook his head and shrugged. "Something as big as what happened to the Twin, it's not surprising." He looked towards Lost Angles for a moment. Without the loss of the city, he'd never have met Dot, but it was such a huge loss for the people of Mainframe. He decided to distract her from it. "Food?"

"Sure." She smiled shyly at him, and he handed her, of all things, a sandwich. She looked at it: peanut butter and jelly. She raised her eyebrows.

"Okay, so maybe I'm not _quite_ the best at planning things."

"Well, you make up for it with quick thinking," she said with a smile, then took a bite. "It's a good sandwich." Bob nodded in appreciation at her compliment and offered her some chips from the basket before he took a bite of his own. She took one and winced at the loud crunch in the quiet evening. "You probably dated a lot of people in the Supercomputer. Everyone's so fast there."

He looked at her speculatively. "A bit, I guess," he said. "The Academy's not the best place for it, though. Everyone gets really focused on something. Research, games, viral conflict... And despite what the holovids will tell you, even in a place like the Supercomputer, everyone's got a different clockspeed when it comes to love." He washed his sandwich down with a bit of cider. "How about you? Heartbreaker, right?"

Dot laughed. "Hardly. I never really dated. I always had too much to do. Helping my dad with his research, trying to figure out how to avoid becoming a clone of my _mother_..." She fidgeted for a moment. "When my friends were off dating, I was putting together business proposals, or scheduling more programming classes, or even..." She looked at him for a moment in embarrassment. "Don't tell Enzo, but I... may have played a whole bunch of games when I learned about the time distortion. And maybe sometimes also because they're... _fun_." He was silent and she took another chip. "Well... _sometimes_."

Bob stared at her for a moment in surprise before he laughed delightedly. "Finally! I finally have an explanation!"

"An explanation? For what?"

"For why you're the only other person in this system with a chance at winning." She laughed a little and he grabbed a chip, gesturing with it before popping it into his mouth. "Really, Dot. Binomes are never exactly _good_ at games, it's just not the way they're made, but the ones here in Mainframe are _hopeless_. When I first got here, I thought maybe everyone in Mainframe was just uniformly bad at them, but then you would show up dual-wielding..."

"Thanks. I'm not as good as you, but... Even the system CPUs are pretty bad." Dot grinned at him. "Maybe you could teach a class? Games 101: how to avoid getting in the way."

"Not a bad idea," he said, smiling back at her. "I'll talk to Phong about it." He smoothed out a wrinkle in the blanket. "I haven't noticed you heading for games, though. Do you still think they're fun?"

"Sometimes. Oh, they're definitely still exciting," said Dot, "but I think maybe I'm just not such a thrillseeker any more. Not to mention, I have to be a good example for my little brother format. He's too young to be going into games."

"It's obvious he really likes them, though." Bob leaned back, putting his hands behind his head and looking at the sky. "And he'll grow up sooner than you think."

"And I'll be alone?"

Bob turned to look at her curiously. "I didn't say that."

"I know, I..." She took a drink and carefully lay herself down next to him, a well defined gap between the pair as she gazed at the circuits, a troubled look on her face. "I guess I'm just thinking too much. I do that sometimes." Her eyes traced the moving lights. "I think I... _could_ like you."

He sighed and turned his head back to the sky. He'd never wanted it to be awkward between them, but it seemed like maybe he'd made a mistake. He'd just thought that maybe the friendship could be more. "I didn't ask you out to push you into anything, Dot."

They were both quiet for a while, their breath making the only audible noise in the night.

"Can we still be friends?" asked Dot in a quiet, worried voice.

Bob smiled and took her hand, feeling some relief. "I wouldn't have it any other way."


End file.
